


It'll All Work Out

by GirlWithTheGhostTattoo



Category: Type O Negative (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 05:13:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20886677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GirlWithTheGhostTattoo/pseuds/GirlWithTheGhostTattoo
Summary: This is something I wrote over a rainy couple of days a while ago when I came out from the rock I lived under for 25 years and discovered Type O Neg.Consider it a brief love affair with a character inspired by the late great Peter Steele.Love him, miss him, kinda want to fuck him.





	It'll All Work Out

I sank into the blankets, willing myself to keep my sobs silent as I tasted the coppery tang of the blood still on my lips.

If I kept my head buried long enough, I'd fall asleep eventually. He'd be there waiting for me, and for a few moments I'd be happy and under the delicious illusion of corporeal safety.

I'd dreamt of him for a week. It was strange at first, but I quickly found myself happily drifting off in the hopes of finding him there by the river.

We talked about everything -- our lives, our families. I'd shied away from speaking about Per at first, feeling uncomfortable enough with my attraction to a dream stranger, but James was patient and gentle with me, never pushing to know anything I didn't want to tell him, and in time I found myself as easily speaking about my husband as I did about everything else.

\--

It was dark at first when I opened my eyes and reflexively began to search for him. But then the sunlight spilled in through the trees, casting tiny dappled shadows over the ground as it peaked through the thick covering of leaves.

He was there, looking as striking as ever, and more than safe and inviting in my current emotional state. I willed myself not to run towards him, not to collide with him and never let go, to not happily slip away into a dream for the rest of my life. He smiled softly down at me when I reached him, but I pulled my face away when he tipped two fingers under my chin.

My movement wasn't quick enough though, and I felt him go rigid as he took my chin between his thumb and index finger and forced me to look at him. I had to tilt my head back to meet his eyes, and he stared at me for a moment before his gaze dropped to my lip and the bruising there.

"Tell me he didn't do this," he said in a voice that made me take an involuntary step back as black anger surged across his sharp features.

I only looked at him sadly, unable to think of an excuse.

"It'll heal," I found myself saying.

"It doesn't fucking matter if it will heal, Elizabeth" he said through gritted teeth.

"I don't want to talk about him right now, James," I said, on the verge of tears, "I just want to enjoy my time here with you before I have to go back there".

He pulled me against him, and I buried my face into the muscles of his chest, relishing his scent and the feel of him against me.

"I'm so sorry," he murmured into my hair, "I wish there was something I could do."

I pulled back to look up at him, brushing his hair back from his face.

"This is enough for me, James," I sighed, happy just to be with him for a little while, "and guess what?"

"What," he smiled after a moment, leading me over to our bench and sitting down next to me. He pulled me in so I was leaning against him, and his arm wrapped around my shoulder and his fingers started absentmindedly playing with my hair.

"I got offered a job yesterday," I said, tracing little patterns on the palm of his opposite hand.

He pulled me up to look at me. "That's great! Where is it? Maybe I'll come find you," he teased.

I told him about the Antiquities department at the museum in the town where I lived, and how the whole thing had really just been a total fluke; it was only by chance that the director happened to catch me lost in thought inside one of the prayer chapels and struck up a conversation.

My heart fell as I considered his last words. I desperately tried to avoid wishing he was real -- I was married, and already getting too attached to James in my dreams. I didn't want to think about what would happen if we continued to meet here, but I also didn't have any control over what happened in my sleep.

He tipped my chin up as I chewed my lip, wincing at the cut there.

"Hey, don't go away from me yet," he said softly, bringing me out of my reveries.

"I wish I never had to..."

I woke up to the beeping of my alarm clock, and rolled over to shut it off. Per wasn't in bed, and I gingerly touched my face, feeling the light swelling there. I had a few days before I needed to start my new job, and I laid there for one more minute, desperately hoping that the bruise would heal by then.

\--

I was lost in a book, the gentle swaying of the train lulling me into a hypnosis.

I'd done my best to conceal the bruise that still mottled my pale skin with light spots of purple and blue, but the sideways glances I received from strangers told me my job wasn't sufficient enough to really hide it.

I ran my tongue absentmindedly over the split in my lip, scabbed over now and doing its best to heal under the layer of maroon lipstick. My eyes continued to scan the pages, disregarding everyone around me and disappearing into the sand with the ancients until I could almost feel the Egyptian sun on my face.

A sharp ping to my left caught my attention briefly and I reflexively read the text out of the corner of my eye and the reply on the screen typed by the young woman sitting there.

\-- _Good Morning! I hope you have a great day, enjoy the sunshine!_  
\-- _Holy fuck, the biggest dude I've ever seen just got on this train. I may be drooling a little and definitely enjoying _something.

I smirked back down at my book, my eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses, before taking a subtle look around at my fellow passengers to find who she was talking about.

The paperback fell from my hands to the floor of the train when I saw him, ducking slightly to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling. His dark hair spilled down his back, long and jet black, brushing against his arms that had muscles crafted by some Renaissance master. The hold he had on the overhead bar to keep from being jostled too much by the starting and stopping of the train accentuated the curve of his bicep, and his jacket was hung over the other forearm.

The momentary commotion of my book tumbling to the floor and me stooping to snatch it back up caused him to look up from the novel in his own hand and over in my direction.

I turned my head away quickly, working to keep my breathing even while I desperately tried to simultaneously find my page and look like I hadn't seen him.

I pushed my sunglasses up as far as they would go, trying to conceal my face. I stared too long at one line, willing my brain to get lost in the text again, but it refused and I could feel his eyes on me, lighting over my features, trying to get a better look.

I had to go. I needed to get away from this tiny metal tube full of strangers, though I was still several stops from my destination.

_No no no, he can't be here. It isn't possible. No no, please no._

I pulled my silk hair scarf down closer to my face, doing my best to quell the rising panic as I stood and clasped the book to my chest, looking down at the floor while I moved quickly towards the double doors that opened with a hydraulic hiss.

Don't look at him. Don't look at him. Don't look at him.

"...Elizabeth?"

It was him. It was his voice. The same as in my dreams. And he had called me by my name.

I ducked my head and walked quicker, trying to put as much distance as I could between me and him.

"Hey, wait up!" he called as he followed me off the train, easily keeping pace with me.

It was all I could do to not break and run for the stairs.

A hand on my shoulder stopped me as I was about to, feeling like cornered prey and I turned with a gasp at the contact, my pulse thundering in my ears.

"I think I know you," he said, "h-have we met before?" His voice was so deep, it vibrated through my bones, easily reaching my ears over the roar of the train departing behind him.

"N-no, we haven't. I don't know you. Please, I'm late," I said with a shaking voice, feeling my knees tremor.

But his stare rooted me to the concrete floor, looking at me like he was trying to place where he knew me from.

"I'm sorry," he said, taking a step back, "you just looked familiar. I didn't mean to startle you..."

My brain revolted against the information that was presented to it.

_He can't know me -- we've never met! It was just a dream! It was MY dream! _

I stood and looked at him for another moment, my breath coming in shallow gasps.

"You...you can't...you're not real, I dreamed about you." I clapped a hand over my mouth. "No, no no no I have to go, I'm sorry!"

He caught my arm when I turned and forced me to look at him again.

"I _am_ real. My God, I guess you are too. H-how are you here? I've looked everywhere for you."

It seemed like he said it more to himself than to me.

My lips trembled when he gently pushed the silk scarf back off my hair and removed my sunglasses. I blinked and looked down at the floor.

A line furrowed his brow as he carefully considered my face, taking in the slightly darker line running down the side of my bottom lip, and the almost-healed bruises just visible under my makeup.

"You were in my dream too. I know it was you..." He tipped my chin up to look at him as the tears started welling up in my eyes.

I was so confused.

He gritted his teeth, taking a deep breath through his nose, and I watched the muscle clench in his jaw as I took more shallow breaths and the world started to spin around me.

"So he did hit you," the pad of his thumb brushed over the cut on my lip softly, tenderly, just like it had in the darkest secrets of my sleep.

That did it.  
Everything went black as my eyes rolled back in my head and my knees finally buckled.

"Woah!" He exclaimed, catching me in his arms as I dropped towards the floor, my book once again dropping with a hollow thud.

Someone who saw it called for help and people immediately crowded around us. An employee of the Transit Authority called an ambulance as I was laid down on the concrete, a stranger's jacket under my head like a pillow.

"Come on, come on, wake up. Elizabeth wake up." He chanted, running his hands over my face and giving me a gentle shake. When it was clear that I was out cold, he started to panic.

\--

I was dreaming. I was in our place, alone. The bench in the park by the water, where all the flowers bloomed. It was so warm and sunny, and the river gurgled within its banks, glinting like crystal in the light.

"James?" I called, looking around.

What a strange experience that had been, thinking I'd met him. I stretched in the sunlight, but winced slightly. My head pounded with a fierce ache that matched my thumping heartbeat.

No matter, soon he'd be here with me, holding my hand and I would forget about it.

I called for him again and looked up and down the river, but he wasn't there.

I was alone.

I'd known this moment would come eventually, but I was crushed to realize it was this soon. Just when I was coming to know him--and I realized, to fall for him--he was gone.

A heartwrenching sob clawed its way up from my throat before I could clamp both hands over my mouth to keep it down.

\--

I heard the monitor first.

A steady if somewhat rapid beeping, keeping time with my pulse. The lights beyond my closed eyelids were unbearably bright already, and harsh enough to make me scrunch my face in discomfort and groan.

"Oh my God, you're awake." a voice said just to my left, accompanied by the sound of someone rapidly getting out of a chair. "I was so worried about you..."

But it wasn't Per's voice.

I opened my eyes slowly, blinking several times and letting them adjust to the fluorescent lights and the comparatively dim decor of the hospital room.

He stood over my bed, looking down at me with concern marring his lovely features.

I breathed a sigh. "There you are. I looked for you at the river," I said when I could speak, "why are we here instead? I prefer being outside."

He looked like I'd slapped him and took a quick step back as his mouth opened but no sound escaped for several moments.

"W-what did you just say?"

"The r--" I looked around, the aching in my head becoming increasingly uncomfortable to the point where it was distracting, "the river. What's going on?"

I looked down at the IV in my hand.

When I looked at him again, his face was ashen and I suddenly was aware that he was wearing the same clothes I'd seen him in on the train this morning.

"This is a dream, isn't it?" I whispered, my brain already looking for a way out.

I could run and probably be out the door before I passed out again. It would only be a matter of pulling the IV out and dashing.

My fingers crept towards the tube as he stared at me.

"It isn't...for either of us... Elizabeth, don't do what you're thinking of doing. That IV is helping you."

I winced when he said my name, knowing that I'd not told him this morning what I was called.

I had to do it, then. Right now.

I'd officially gone insane and I had to run away before they found out.

Before they discovered my hallucinations.

He had broken out of my subconscious and followed me into my waking life.

People like me ended up in nuthouses.

But then the doctor walked in and I was trapped as he smiled sweetly at me.

"Oh, Ms. Walker you're awake! Welcome back."

I swallowed a groan and James took my hand that was still slowly moving towards my IV, holding it firmly in his and frowning down at me for a moment. I looked up at him, still lost in the idea of his features being here with me, even if they were only in my mind.

Everything was uncertain to me. I couldn't tell what was real and what was a figment of my shaken brain. He couldn't be here, I reminded myself. I had dreamed of him for a week. He was my friend there, but that place was only a dream. Only an escape from reality.

But then to my absolute shock, the doctor turned to address him.

I clamped my lips together over a scream that threatened to expose my mingled terror and relief.

The elderly man looked back down at me over his glasses, and I felt his mental evaluation happening, taking stock of my faculties. I wanted to tell him to get in line, but kept my mouth shut for the moment.

"Ah, Mr. Walker, may I speak with you in the hall for a moment?"

"Wh--wait, who, me?" James pointed to himself with a bewildered expression.

"We're not married," we said in unison and I wanted to slap my palm against my own forehead, but I was sure I would scream in pain if I gave in to the impulse.

"Ah...right," the doctor looked back and forth between us, glancing at my wedding ring and the absence of one on James' finger. I could tell he had already made up his mind about how we were associated.

James gave my hand a gentle squeeze that made my heart rate via the monitor embarrassingly spike loudly throughout the room.

"Christ," I muttered, pulling it from his grasp, "sorry."

The corner of his broad mouth twitched with the ghost of a smile and he followed the doctor out into the hallway.

"Mister..."

"Hmm? Oh, ah Butler."

"Right. Mr. Butler, your...friend...has sustained some recent injuries to her face, rather painful, I'd imagine."

"I know that."

The doctor cocked an eyebrow up at him, as if to say 'oh, do you?'

"Hey, don't even go there. I wouldn't hurt her. I hadn't even met her before today."

He ran a frustrated hand back through his hair.

"None of this even makes sense..."

"Look, son, its not my place to judge. But she is on the tail end of a bad concussion. She's lucky she doesn't have any brain damage, but I can't imagine that she'll be so fortunate the next time."

He was cut short by the brief wave of murderous rage that crossed the face of the taller man.

"There will not be a 'next time', thank you, doctor," he said in a clipped tone, as even as he could manage.

The other waved a hand, considering the emotion roiling through the huge man in front of him before moving back towards the room where I was beginning to fidget with the cheap hospital blanket thrown over my legs.

"Good news, Ms. Walker, you're all set to go home today. Now, though. The bruises..."

I rapidly looked away as my heart rate increased again and I felt the panic bubbling under the surface of my skin.

"It--it's..."

"Ms. Walker, I'm going to be frank with you, which is a luxury I've earned over the past 65 years of life."

I looked up at him as the tears began to well up and spill down my cheeks.

"If your husband is doing this to you, there are places you can go. No one -- _no one_ has the right to cause you bodily harm. Now, I am happy to call the police if you wou--"

"NO NO NO, PLEASE DON'T," I cried frantically, trying to scramble from the bed. Two hands nearly big enough to wrap all the way around my waist caught me and pushed me back up as James was suddenly hovering over me, anger and worry and fear plain on his face.

"Shh shh, its okay. It's okay, I've got you..." He didn't let go, taking my hands in his own. They were far larger than mine, the palms warm and just a little rough.

I looked up to him, getting lost in the green irises that I'd thought until minutes ago were mere figments of my imagination.

The doctor gently prodded James until he took a reluctant step back, and both my hands were then gripped by his own.

"My dear. Unless you've gotten into a bar fight recently or fell down the stairs three times in a row, someone took a pretty nasty swing at you. You have probably had a concussion for several days, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't surprised that you haven't sustained any permanent damage."

His hand moved to my face, cupping my cheek in a gesture so paternal, it made fresh tears stream down from my eyes.

"I have taken the liberty of putting my home phone number on the back of the card on your bedside table there. Please, do not hesitate to call if you find yourself without a place to go. I apologize for the unprofessional nature of this, but I had a daughter very much like you once who...well. Just please don't consider it a bother to reach out day or night."

I held onto his hand tightly.

"Please, my head hurts. I--I can't...I don't know what to do..."

"I've asked the nurse to bring you some medicine that will help with that, and then she will discharge you. I trust, Mr. Butler," he said turning to James, "that you can see her wherever she wishes to go now _safely_?"

"Cross my heart, doc."

"Good. Ms. Walker, are you okay to go with this man? You're under no obligation to leave here with him if you do not feel safe."

I glanced over at James, who was absentmindedly chewing his lower lip as he looked at me.

"I'm okay, thank you sir," I whispered, not looking back at the doctor as I spoke to him. He made a noise of agreement in his throat as he made room for the nurse who appeared and then crossed to the door.

"Day or night, Ms. Walker," he said before turning to step out.

The nurse handed me a paper pill cup containing two white tablets. "Take both of these now, Elizabeth. They'll help with the headache, but they'll make you pretty darn tired in a few hours, so its best if you go straight home and to bed."

"Yes ma'am, thank you," I said, swallowing the pills with a drink of water from the cup she offered me, "and I can go now?"

"Yes, you've been officially discharged, is there anyone you'd like me to call to come pick you up?" She talked as she gently removed my IV and disconnected me from the monitors.

"I'll take her home," James said, catching her attention for the first time and shrugging into his jacket before pulling his hair out from underneath. To her credit, the young nurse managed to close her mouth only a moment after her jaw dropped.

A little smile curved my lips as I slid off the bed and reached for my clothes.

He was almost tragically handsome.

"Can I uhm. Can I have a moment please?" I held up my clothes. "I need to change."

He looked down at me, and for a moment I thought he was going to refuse, but instead he brushed the back of his knuckles softly down my cheek.

"Sure, I'll be in the hall when you're ready."

I didn't miss the way the nurse's eyes traveled over his body as she insisted on leaving after him. I rolled my shoulders and leaned back against the bed, trying to process everything that had happened, and what I was going to do next.

They can't call the police if I ask them not to, right? I chewed my lip with sudden worry and gasped with pain as the split reopened a tiny bit.

I wanted to cry. To just sob and hide until everything was better.

But something already was better, I reminded myself. James was real. I had no idea how I'd even conjured his image, but somehow we had met in our dreams.

He knew my name. He knew about Per.

I pulled my jeans on and slipped into my shoes before reaching behind myself to zip the back of my shirt. The headscarf and sunglasses were tucked into my purse, but I expected there was no need for those now. The secret was out.

I took a steadying breath before opening the door and stepping into the hallway, still unsure what I was going to do next.

James was leaning against the wall, staring off and lost in thought.

I shakily reached out a hand to brush his arm.

His muscles were hard and I was embarrassed at the current of heat that shot through my core when he came to and smiled down at me.

"You don't have to take me home, I'm just going to take the train I think," I said, trying to make my mouth form the words that tasted like ash.

"Elizabeth," he frowned, a hint of

My eyes closed and I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"I don't understand how you know my name. We...I've never met you."

He was in as much disbelief as I was at the whole situation, but still he tipped my chin up.

"Is that so?" He paused for several moments. "Tell me what my name is, Elizabeth." His gaze wouldn't let me look away, and I was caught up in the way my name sounded leaving his beautiful lips.

"I--I don't know."

"Yes, you do," he reached a hand out and curled my hair behind my ear and it was all I could do to not whimper under his caress as he stared down at me, "I told you the first time we met. By the river. I know you remember."

I looked back and forth between his eyes that were pleading me to know. To not leave him alone in this.

My mouth moved without my permission as I formed the word I'd been aching to say.

"James."

His hand shook a little as he let me go, sucking in a breath as his name fell from my lips as a whisper.

"How is this possible?" He asked, his forehead creasing with confusion.

"I don't know. I'm not even sure that you're real. That any of this is real. M-maybe I hit my head on the concrete and am lying unconscious somewhere. Maybe you are just a dream..." I was getting myself worked up, my breath becoming quicker as my heartrate increased.

Maybe I was insane after all.

Maybe Per had hit me hard enough to screw up my brain.

"Elizabeth. Elizabeth look at me," he took my face in his hands. Those almost impossibly large hands. "I am real. This is real. You didn't hit your head on the concrete because you fell right into my arms. Straight forward...Oh, Elizabeth, we may not understand, but this is happening for a reason. I'll be fucked if I know what it is, but there has to be one."

I could only nod and absorb the heat from his palms. He closed his eyes for a moment before pulling me to him and enveloping me in his arms.

I gasped softly but didn't stop him as he cupped the back of my head and pressed my face softly into his shoulder, careful not to hurt me.

"Oh, God, you feel just like I thought you would," he murmured into my hair, tangling his fingers through my red tresses.

A low sob caught in my throat and I wrapped my arms around his torso, holding him to me as much as he was holding me to himself.

"You do too," I whispered, turning my face into him. "You're warm and safe." He pulled me fractionally harder against him when his brain deciphered my murmured words.

"You _are_ safe with me," he said softly.

I had no clue how long we stood like that but he finally let go and took a step back.

"Come on, lets go outside while the sun lasts." He offered me his hand and I took it, letting him lead me through the labyrinth of corridors to the exit.

I took a big breath of fresh air when we crossed through the glass sliding doors out onto the brick walkway.

Still holding my hand, he led me towards the street.

"Where are you going to go, Elizabeth?" he asked gently.

He had to.

"I...home, I guess."

The sigh that left him was huffy and exasperated and I let go of his hand.

"Look, I don't have anywhere else to go. We just moved here. I don't know anybody, I haven't even started my job, well I was supposed to today..."

My turn to run a hand back through my hair.

"It's not going to happen again. I just...I just need a few days I think to figure my shit out. And probably find somewhere to stay."

I sighed, knowing there was a lot of uncomfortable conversations heading my way.

"You could...nevermind." His voice interrupted my mental somersaults.

"I could what?"

"Well. Come stay with me. If you wanted. Just temporarily, I mean, it--it isn't..." he sighed again, "sorry, that was probably too forward of me to have just offered that."

I had no idea what to say and my mouth worked wordlessly for a moment.

"I just...I think right now I need to go home and sleep before making any decisions."

He stayed silent for several minutes while we walked. But his thumb kept brushing across my knuckles, making me glad I wasn't hooked up to a heart rate monitor anymore.

"Where are we going, James?" A shiver went through him when I said his name again.

"You're not taking the train, I'll drive you. I live a few more blocks up."

"Oh, okay..."

I tried to absorb as much warmth as I could from the early summer sun, but I released his hand and crossed my arms with a sudden chill.

James stopped walking, shrugging out of his jacket in the process.

"It's okay, I'm fine," I said when he offered it to me, not wanting him to get cold.

"It's alright, I'm warm-blooded anyways," he said with a weak smile, extending his arms to pull his jacket around my shoulders. I was immediately enveloped in his scent and the residual warmth of him in the material and I ducked my face into the collar as we suddenly stood too close together.

He didn't let go of the ends, pulling them across my front and holding them there.

His emotions warred across his features, and I watched his eyes flick down to my lips, which parted slightly in both anxiety and anticipation.

Oh God, oh God, oh God.

But he did nothing more and let go before shaking his head back and forth.

"I'm sorry..."

We walked in silence the rest of the way to his apartment and he pulled his keys from his pocket when we were out front, unlocking the car doors and crossing to the passenger side to open it for me.

I looked up at him with a thankful smile, feeling the slightest bit drowsy from the medicine, but better than I had in weeks aside from that.

Our eyes met and I watched his darken slightly as another current of searing heat tore through me and settled between my legs when I beheld the man before me.

"James," I whispered, reaching for him before I had time to talk myself out of it.

"Ohh..." he sighed in response, his fingers combing through my hair as he backed me up against the side of the car with his hips, the metal warm from sitting in the sun.

His arm curved around until my head rested in the crook of his elbow, at once cradling me and pulling me closer. I reached up to wrap my arms around his neck, tugging him down to me as I stood on my tiptoes, dying to know if my all my fantasies were real.

Our lips crashed together, neither of us thinking about anything but the immediate need for each other.

I gasped and moaned quietly against his mouth, feeling small and shielded by his massive body as he pressed me back further against the car. His muscles were hard and warm and he was somehow everything that I needed right then, and I felt his fingers close, gripping onto my hair when I opened my lips to him and tasted his tongue.

James moaned deeply into me, his breathing becoming increasingly quick as our kiss deepened and I grabbed onto every bit of him I could, anchoring him to me.

His hair was thick and dark and I curled my fingers to it, moaning as his tongue filled my mouth, our lips fitting perfectly together in a way I knew they would the moment I'd met him in my dream.

We continued to consume each other with a startling level of passion until my human brain finally took over and I pulled back with a gasp and clapped a hand over my lips.

"Oh, God, I'm sorry. Oh fuck, James I'm so sorry!" I covered my face with both hands and tried to steady my breathing as he pressed his palms to the roof of the car on either side of me.

"Elizabeth, come back," he whispered, and it was so nearly my undoing right there.

I couldn't look at him, my willpower would crumble and I would cling to him like a lifeline.

"Take me home, James. Please," I sniffled, trying to keep the sobs at bay as I stared at his boots.

"Look at me," he rumbled, pulling back slightly to give me room.

I slowly lifted my head, tears in my eyes as I felt thoroughly overwhelmed by everything.

"I'll take you. But I need you to be safe. I need to know that you're going to be okay, Elizabeth."

I blinked twice and reached one shaking palm up to his face, almost needing to reassure myself that he was real. "

Please. You have to stop saying my name."

"Why? I like saying it."

"Because it...its making me..." I sighed. I couldn't tell him how much I wanted him. I was married. I had a husband, and whether he had smacked me or not, I needed to go back home.

"Per won't even be home yet. I just need to go to sleep I think. This m-medicine is making me tired."

He frowned and leaned in again, pressing his lips to my forehead in an impossibly tender kiss before reaching behind me to open the passenger door again.

I tucked in and buckled my seatbelt, feeling slightly more drowsy now, but also wide awake and impossibly aroused after a kiss like that. I pressed my legs tightly together, feeling the wetness between them and joyfully reveling in it in my deepest, darkest heart.

The car dipped slightly when James got in the other side.

He started the engine up, but held out his hand to me before pulling out of the parking spot. I laced our fingers together and settled them in my lap, absentmindedly tracing the lines of his huge hands while I could.

"Your knuckles are scarred," I murmured, looking over at him for a moment before settling my eyes back in my lap, "do you get into fights a lot?"

He had to remember how to speak, feeling the soft tips of my fingers gently brushing over the surface of his skin, purposefully exploring each line and scar and imperfection.

He loved me already, and he knew it.

"I used to, when I was a shithead kid. Not for a long time now, though. Somehow when you top out at six foot seven, suddenly no one wants to pick a fight with you anymore."

He smirked over at me.

"Hmm, yes, very scary," I smiled.

"Mmm. You're quite terrifying yourself, babe." The last word slipped from his lips before he had a chance to stop it.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly.

I gave his hand a squeeze, wondering if he could hear the way my heart was pounding.

"I think that given the events of the day already, a slip of the tongue is acceptable," I smiled softy at him.

He squeezed my hand tighter.

James followed my instructions to get me home, telling me about businesses and other places as we passed them, and I was suddenly overcome with a crushing sense of loss when he pulled up in front of my building.

I held on to his hand tightly with both of my own and pressed it against my cheek.

"Wh-what if I don't dream about you anymore?" I asked shyly, looking at the floor mats, aware that it was an absurd question.

"Hey," he pulled his hand from my grasp and lifted my chin towards him, "you don't have to dream about me, I'm real remember?" he said, moving my hair away from my face and tucking it behind my ear before brushing his knuckles over my bruised cheek. "And you can call me whenever you want to. Elizabeth, you can see me whenever you want to..."

I nodded, looking up and out the windshield. My head cocked slightly to the side when I saw the black sedan.

"What the...why is he home in the middle of the day?" I asked myself, not realizing I'd said it out loud.

"What, that's your husband's car?"

I nodded slowly after a moment, thoroughly confused.

"That's it. I'm coming in with you."

"_No_, it’s okay. I’m fine to make it up the stairs. I don't want any more trouble, James. Please.”

I could have sworn he rolled his eyes, “just indulge me, then, sweetheart. I wont do anything," he added, ducking his head back into the car to say it.

He was at my door then, opening it and offering me a hand to help me out. He used that grip on my hand to pull me to him when I was standing, and wrapped his arms around me once more like he had at the hospital.

"I'm sorry, I just want one more second like this before I have to let you go," he said softly.

I would have given him a thousand seconds, but my brain was half-consumed by worry about what was going to happen to my marriage, and half-consumed by a concern that Per was home when he should have been at work.

A piece of my brain wondered if I was going to find him dead on our bedroom floor.

James pulled away and placed one hand at the small of my back, steering us towards the front door of the building as I fumbled with my keys and dropped them.

"You sure you're alright?"

"Mmm yeah, its just the meds. The nurse said it would make me drowsy."

His hand was back on me again as I opened the front door to the building and headed up the stairs.

My front door lock clicked behind us as I pushed the door closed after James, pressing my forehead to the cool painted wood, and I was about to turn and try to figure out how to say goodbye to someone I never knew I’d meet in the first place.

But we both heard it at the same time.

The unmistakable sound of whorish moans coming from my bedroom.

I turned abruptly and my keys slipped once more from my fingers and clattered against the hardwood floor, bringing a sudden halt to the activities happening in the other room.

Per appeared in the doorway, holding a shirt across his hips like it would preserve his modesty. A pair of brown eyes peaked over his left shoulder at me from a face that looked barely legal.

He and I stared at each other and I thought for a moment that I was going to pass out again.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Liz...” he said, running a hand over his face.

The blood was pounding in my ears.

“You’re supposed to be at work,” he continued.

“She didn’t make it to work today, asshole,” a voice said just behind me with unmasked disdain, “she passed out from the concussion you gave her and had to go to the hospital.”

“And just who the fuck are you?!” Per sneered, but his expression changed as James quickly crossed the length of our apartment towards him, moving with more speed than someone his size should have had.

Before anyone had a chance to react, James had Per up against the wall, holding a punishing grip on his throat that made the smaller man’s hands scrabble at the other's massive forearm.

“I am the owner of the last face you’ll see on this goddamn earth if you ever touch that woman again, you lowlife, worthless piece of shit...” His tone was so low, the words came out as more of a growl, and I watched the color drain from Per's features.

I slipped my wedding ring off my finger and the engagement ring with it.

The medicine was kicking in strongly now and things were starting to blur.

I looked at the girl I assumed was Per’s student and held eye contact as I set the rings on the table. Her eyes widened with sudden terror as she looked at the bruising on my face and I could only look sadly at her.

My husband looked over at me, his adrenaline in high gear, but still a sorry match for my almost Herculean protector. James noticed and let him down, though still pinning him to the wall.

"Per. I'm leaving." It was all I could say.

"You won't, you precious fucking bit--" he choked on the last word as James' hand closed against his throat.

The only thing that seemed to stop him from squeezing the life out of Per was the other woman, who seemed so small and meek at first, but turned out to have lungs that could wake the dead.

"You let him go! He hasn't done anything to you!"

James turned his head and looked at her like he'd heard a slight sound. It was almost cat-like.

He sneered coldly at her, "little girl, you should be more careful of who you get into bed with. If you lay with dogs, you're bound to get goddamn flees." he spit the last word as he released Per with a shove and looked towards me.

I swayed on my feet, seeing doubles from the effects of the meds.

"Fuck, NO," he yelled, rushing towards me before I fell over. My face rocked into his shoulder.

"Elizabeth. Don't leave again, come on," he urged.

"Mmm-mmm, I'm here. Its...the m-medicine...nurse said...sleepy..."

He gathered me into his arms, lifting me easily enough bridal-style before looking back at Per with a blistering glare.

"I swear to God, if you come near her again, I will fucking tear you in half with my bare hands," and with one more withering stare, he stormed back through my front door and out to his car.

\--

I mumbled something incoherent when James settled me into the front seat, carefully strapping the seatbelt across my lap.

He bundled his coat under my head as a pillow when he slid in the other side so I wouldn't hit my head on the window.

He looked up once to my apartment and saw Per watching us out of the living room window. James resisted the urge to flip him off and quickly pulled out onto the main street, taking deep calming breaths and putting a hand on my leg, giving it a gentle squeeze

"Elizabeth? Babe can you hear me?"

"Mmm..." I didn't say anything else before I went back to sleep.

He chuckled quietly, flipping the stereo on and turning the volume down as Billie Holiday serenaded us through the city.

He turned into the same parking spot we'd left not much earlier, and when he pulled the key from the ignition, he spent a moment trying to process what he was feeling.

There was thankfulness for me not going back to that abusive asshole, and a sharp disbelief that we'd somehow met in our sleep. But there was something else too. A deep-seated, consuming need to protect me and make me happy.

He shook his head, a smile curving his lips as he watched me sleep for a moment, wondering what was happening in my dreams as he thought about our kiss. The way I'd looked at him and reached for him. How my lips had opened, seeking his tongue...

A hard shiver passed through him when he remembered the way I had pressed up into his body, returning his affections touch for touch.

"Gods, make her need me like I need her..." he whispered, still watching my sleeping form as I nestled my face into his jacket and a tiny smile curved one corner of my lips at being so close to his scent again.

James got out of the car, closing the door quietly and crossing around to my side.

He was hyper-aware of everything about me -- the natural light color of my lips, the way my eyelashes fell darkly against my cheeks, my perfume, soft and floral, like jasmine.

He brushed one hand down my cheek, fully prepared to carry me inside, but wanting to give me the opportunity to walk first.

"Hey Elizabeth, can you wake up for me? Just for a second."

My eyelids fluttered and I turned into his palm, breathing softly against his skin.

"Mmm. Hi," I sighed, not opening my eyes but knowing who he was.

"Hey, sleepyhead," he chuckled, "we're gonna go inside now. Do you want to walk?"

"Mmhm," I mumbled, though my eyes were still closed.

James waited a moment before reaching across me to unbuckle my seatbelt, almost aching to touch me, but resisting knowing that I wasn't in any place to give permission.

"Come on, girl," he said, pulling my arm around his massive shoulders and sliding his arms behind my back and under my knees before lifting me almost effortlessly up and out of the seat.

I was already sound asleep again, and he cradled me to his chest for a moment before kicking his car door shut and heading for the house.

He shifted my weight slightly so he could open his front door, then dropped his keys on the table and headed for his bedroom.

I was lost in a heavy medicated sleep, and didn't move at all when he laid me down on top of the comforter and slipped my shoes off, setting them on the floor next to the bed. James crossed to the other side and pulled down the comforter and sheets before lifting me once more and settling me down there, pulling the fabric up over me.

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead before heading back out to the living room and settling into a chair with a book.

The clouds were gathering, obscuring the early summer sun, and it was starting to look an awful lot like rain.

\--

"And just where have you been all day..." Per was sitting behind his desk, a tumbler and decanter at his elbow as he looked at me over his tortoise-shell glasses.

I set my purse on the table, unable to stop the smile that lighted over my features.

"Oh, Per, I went exploring and found the most wonderful museum today! You should have seen their prayer chapels, completely reconstructed! It was like being there all those thousands of year ago, I could almost hear the funeral processions! And--"

I caught the look on his face and a chill went down my spine.

"Wh--Per what's the matter?"

He looked like he was about to spit venom when he approached me.

"So I don't suppose you were out meeting with the guy in the suit at a cafe? Hmm?"

I was taken aback -- how could he possibly know that?

"Are...were you watching me?"

"Answer the fucking question, Liz!"

My temper flared and I pinched the bridge of my nose. He was drunk, and by the looks of the largely empty decanter, he'd been at it for a while.

"Per. Why were you following me?"

"Answer. The question. You. Stupid. Slut." He slurred his words as the back of his hand suddenly whipped across my face and knocked me to the floor.

I was too stunned to scream or cry, even when I felt the blood welling up from the cut in my lip.

I pressed my hand to the spot and looked up at him.

"H-he was the Antiquities director," I whispered, my voice failing me as the panic and terror started to set in, "he took me out to lunch to talk about a job opening he thought I would be a good fit for."

The tears started stinging my eyes as the pain began to surface and I clutched my cheek.

He'd never hit me before -- we had argued, as all married couples did, but he'd never been physically violent.

My back hit the wall as I tried to escape the next blow, shielding myself with my arms and curling into a ball.

His fists and feet rammed into me over and over again, until I was shrieking in pain and terror, desperately trying to find a way to make it stop.

_Help me. Help me. James where are you. He's going to kill me, please help! James!! _

"JAMES!" I screamed his name as I awoke, bolting upright, tangled in the sheets of a bed that wasn't my own.

I was panting, gasping for breath, desperately looking around.

James was there in the next moment, breathing heavily with the adrenaline rush. He looked around, assessing any potential danger before quickly climbing onto his bed and clutching me tightly to him.

I could hear his heart pounding, and my fingers grasped into the material of his shirt as I tried to even my breathing.

"I'm here Elizabeth. I'm right here...fuck you scared me. You're safe, you're okay. Just a bad dream."

I clung to him, not knowing what else to do, burying my face into his shoulder.

"James. James James James..." I said it over and over again, almost like a prayer until he pulled back slightly from me and looked into my eyes.

"Elizabeth, take a deep breath." He breathed with me, inhaling deeply before letting it go. My terror subsided as the memories of the day rushed back to me, and James pressed one hot palm to my face, searching my eyes for something.

"I'm right here, baby. Nothing is going to happen to you while I'm here..."

The tiny gasp that left me shifted his attention to my lips and I gripped him harder.

"James..." I whispered one more time as he leaned in to kiss me.

His lips pressed against mine and I moaned softly, feeling consumed by his heat immediately as I opened my lips to him, remembering how good his kiss had felt before.

He returned my affection, sliding his tongue along mine and making me arch into him as he kissed me thoroughly, tasting the sweetness of my mouth and sinking further and further into me.

A growl rumbled through his chest when I gripped the hem of his shirt and pushed it up his torso, running my hands over his skin and moaning at the warmth that seemed to radiate from his body.

His arms were too long for me to reach all the way up, so he broke away from my lips for a moment and tore the material off over his head and threw it carelessly to the side.

Our movements were almost frenzied, the mutual need for each other too great now to deny.

I splayed my hands over the hard muscles of his abdomen, feeling each curve and ridge as his mouth dominated mine and he drank down the moan that left my lips when he shivered under my palm and I whispered his name again.

Two massive hands cupped my face, holding me to him and brushing his thumbs across my cheeks as we shifted to get closer.

I reached back to unzip my shirt and he stopped me.

"You don't have to, I--I don't want you to do anything you're uncomfortable with," he said, looking down at me through eyes so deliciously full of lust, I was surprised that he could speak at all.

"I need you," was all I could say.

The effect of my words on him was instant as he reached back and pulled the zipper down a little roughly, almost tearing the material off of me before pulling back to look at my body.

"Oh, sweetheart..." he whispered, drinking me in, then he slammed his lips back down to mine, pressing me back into the bed and moving on top of me, loving the way my skin felt against his as his tongue filled my mouth.

I hardly felt his weight since he rested one forearm near my head, sliding his fingers into my hair while the opposite hand started traveling over my skin.

Mine moved to touch every inch of his skin I could reach, feeling the goosebumps that each caress raised.

"_Elizabeth_," he moaned into my mouth, kissing me breathless. His lips trailed kisses like tiny flames along my jaw and down my neck until I was writhing and pressing up into him, gasping his name as I spread my legs further to make room for his hips.

He sucked a mark into the side of my neck when I turned my face to give him better access and growled when he saw the small red patch.

I arched off the bed and pulled his hair hard, winding it around my fist as he pushed the cups of my bra down and gently ran his tongue over one nipple, feeling it tighten between his lips.

He breathed into my skin and lavished the other with the same attention, making me writhe.

"God, you're so beautiful," he sighed, kissing every bit of my exposed skin that he could, but I needed more.

I pulled his face back up to me and we cried out together as he took my mouth in a rough kiss, everything about his lips and tongue and teeth making me lose myself.

I lifted my hips up, grinding against his cock and he groaned into my lips, pressing himself harder against my core.

My fingers roamed all over his skin, tracing the lines of his shoulder blades down his back, creating a mental picture of what he must look like.

Neither of us were thinking or worrying - we were too caught up in the sensations and pleasures of experiencing each others' bodies.

Reveling in the noises and the physical reactions.

The primal lust mingling with something deeper.

A huge clap of thunder that shook the whole house startled both of us back into reality and he paused, hanging over top of me, the ends of his hair trailing over one of my breasts in an impossibly erotic way.

"Are you okay?" He asked quietly, still gasping for breath, "do you want to stop?"

I lifted one hand up to press against his cheek, and he turned his face into it, gently kissing my palm before laying his cheek there once more.

My thumb ghosted across his bottom lip, red and the slightest bit swollen now.

James stayed perfectly still when I didn't answer, but he felt my other hand trailing down his side, whispering against the surface of his body.

His skin was hot and smooth, and he took my thumb between his teeth and lightly bit down when my free hand went to his belt buckle, slowly slipping the worn leather through the clasp then pulling the button of his jeans without ever dropping his gaze.

He whispered my name, not looking away from me as I pushed the material down his hips, tracing the hollows on each side of his ass as my fingers moved back up.

James shifted off the bed to kick the material the rest of the way off, then stood, looking down at me watching him.

A tiny part of my brain knew I was staring, but I couldn't not.

His cock was a work of art, perfectly sculpted like the rest of his body and, I realized as I bit my bottom lip slightly, it was quite proportional to his height.

James watched me with darkened eyes, one hand moving down to slowly pump himself from base to tip as I laid there, enraptured in his physical perfection. moaning softly as I watched him pleasure himself.

When he knelt over me again, he trailed his fingers down the skin of my torso, murmuring to himself how soft I was, how delicate and small as his eyes traveled to my hips.

In one fluid motion he unhooked the button and pulled the zipper on my jeans.

I ached to touch him but I waited, lifting my hips so he could slide my jeans down and off my legs.

My heartrate was high enough that I was sure the organ would fail me at any moment, but his hand smoothed across my waist and around to my back as I sat up to meet him.

His hands roamed all over my skin as we both knelt on the bed, the heat of our intertwined bodies almost too much.

The hook on my bra snapped almost magically as he passed one hand over it. I hadn't even felt the pull, but he pressed open-mouthed kisses down the side of my neck as I tossed the garment to the side, and two huge, burning hands cupped my breasts, making me shiver hard.

James let go and pulled me to him, until we were skin on skin again, his cock pressing hard into my stomach and my nipples dragging across his chest, making us both sigh as I chased his tongue into his mouth. He tasted divine, and he met every need I had while simultaneously making me need more.

"Elizabeth, lay back," he moaned into the skin of my throat, brushing his lips up the curve of it, feeling my pulse racing with pleasure.

I did, resting against the pillows and instinctively pressing my knees together.

He looked me up and down, taking his time to drink me as the rain beat mercilessly on his bedroom window.

His hands traced up my shins, barely applying pressure, and stopped at my knees, gently pulling them apart until I stretched my legs out straight on either side of him.

The torturous procession continued up my thighs until he slipped his fingers under the waistband of my panties and started to gently slide them down my legs, groaning heavily when a flash of lighting momentarily illuminated how wet I was for him already.

I blushed crimson almost immediately and covered my face with my hands.

"Why are you doing that?" He asked at the same moment that I started to babble 'I'm sorry' repeatedly.

"I..." I peaked out at him through my fingers and he was sitting back on his heels, resting his hands on his thighs, "I'm sorry, its just been so long since I've been...touched like this...I'm sorry."

A confusing series of emotions passed quickly over the handsome face in front of me, and I mentally screamed at myself for ruining the moment as I put both hands back over my face.

It had been an awfully long time since I'd been this exposed to anyone but Per.

I felt him move, then heard his voice over top of me.

"Elizabeth. Look at me, baby. Open your eyes."

The gaze that looked down at me when I did was equal parts kind and hungry.

"You should never have to go a day without being touched. A woman like you deserves to go to bed every night and have someone between those beautiful legs making you come over," he dipped his hips to run his cock through my folds and I responded with a sharp gasp, "and over," another pass, "and over..."

I gripped his arms, feeling the curves and lines of the muscles under my fingertips as the tip of his cock pressed against my clit and I sank my nails into them.

"Oh fuck, please, James..." I moaned, needing more of him like I needed to breathe.

"Sit up further," he said with a tiny smirk, pushing me up into the pillows so I was seated at an angle.

"Wh-wh-what are you doing?"

"Just...don't think," he said into the skin of my breasts as he traced delicate patterns with his tongue across each nipple before sucking and lightly teasing with his teeth.

My hands went to his hair, brushing it away from his face so I could watch his mouth work across my skin.

He wasted no time settling between my hips, kissing across my pelvis and down my thighs, lingering there until I thought I was going to scream with delicious, tortured frustration.

"Please, please, please," I started to babble when he nipped lightly at the top of my mound.

My pleas spurred him on, and he ran the flat of his tongue once through my folds, tasting me purposefully.

I gasped at the sensation, my hand fisting into his hair as my body was given over to sensation. James looked up at me with a growl that turned into a feral smirk as he held my eyes and lowered his face, closing his lips around my clit.

His entire consciousness was bent on pleasuring me, on working my body and making me come.

The hand that wasn't holding a tight grip on his hair grasped at the sheets, trying to ground myself in the sea of pleasure that was James' mouth as he ran his tongue through my folds and around my clit over and over again.

I pressed my pussy harder into his face, so close to the edge now, and caring nothing for self control.

Just the knowledge that he desired me was making my own pleasure more intense.

My eyes opened and I looked down at him for a brief moment as he devoured me, gripping my thighs with his hands and hooking them over his shoulders as he physically pressed his face harder into my core.

Everything about his gaze was aroused and electric, and the coil of heat in my belly burned hotter still, about to snap.

He read every movement for what it was and thrusted his tongue inside me, hurtling me over the precipice of an orgasm so intense I thought for a moment I wouldn't ever stop coming.

James worked me through the high, attentively licking me through each shuddering aftershock and moaning as my taste consumed his senses and his hips rutted into the mattress.

I gasped for breath, the endorphins sending my system into a state of bliss I'd forgotten existed.

"James," I whispered his name as he moved back up my body, dropping kisses and tiny bites along my skin until he reached my lips and I tasted myself of his tongue.

"That was amazing," he groaned into my kiss, and I laughed breathlessly, feeling a sudden burst of confidence that I didn't typically experience in the bedroom.

"I agree," I grinned, "but now its my turn," I nipped at his bottom lip, and pressed on him until he flipped onto his back, with a startled expression.

"Wh-what are...oh, aah fuck..." he closed his eyes and groaned as I straddled his hips and started making my way down his torso, biting him harder than he'd bitten me and licking at his skin.

He watched me closely, breathing through parted lips as he softly touched my hair.

The noise he made when I ran my tongue over the length of his cock almost undid me again right there.

His muscles all went taut and I was consumed with an impossible, burning desire for him. I took the head of his cock between my lips, swirling my tongue around it and tasting him before dropping down and taking as much of him as I could.

He gasped for breath, yelling my name and fisting his hand into my hair, bucking up into my mouth. I set a quick rhythm up and down his cock, trying to take him further each time, and humming around him, losing all sense of time. 

It may have been seconds. It may have been hours.

"Fuck, Elizabeth, I'm gonna come, FUCK," he growled, and I wrapped one hand around the base of his cock as I sucked him harder, desperate to taste him.

He exploded into my mouth, hot and salty, and I felt myself start to drip at his cries and screams of pleasure as his fist closed into my hair and my nails sank into his thigh.

James gasped for relief and I lifted my head as he softened.

We looked at each other without speaking for several moments as our breathing slowed.

He pulled me up to him, wrapping me in those arms that so easily encircled me, and I laid my head against his chest, feeling his lips brush my forehead and linger there as we basked in the blissful afterglow.

"Can I do something without you thinking I'm a complete idiot?" He looked down at me as he asked several minutes later, still softly brushing his fingers up and down my arm from my elbow to my shoulder.

"Mmhm. I can't imagine ever thinking you're an idiot, James," I laughed softly.

He put one finger under my chin and tipped my face up until I was looking at him with a contented smile.

I felt his heart beat faster underneath my hand and I leaned up on one elbow until I could reach his lips.

"I can't believe you're real. I just thought you were the best dream I'd ever had..." I whispered into his mouth when his lips released mine.

"Mmm, likewise," he hummed before turning over towards his bedside table and opening the top drawer. I loved the way the motion elongated his body and I ran a hand over his abdomen, reveling in the softness of his skin over his muscles.

There was a small flat box in his hand when he turned back to me, laying his head against the pillow and drinking in my features for a moment as he put the box on his stomach near me and waited.

He brushed one hand over my tresses.

"I like the color of your hair," he murmured, getting lost in the silky waves.

"Thank you," I said, laying my head back against his chest, peppering the skin with tiny kisses.

He pushed the box into my hand and I looked up at him with a surprised expression.

"For me? What is it?"

"You told me that if you could spend all your time reading about ancient egypt, you'd be perfectly happy. That you felt more at home than anywhere else with those people on the pages sometimes, even though they're long gone."

I closed my eyes and tried to will my heart to slow down. Even though I knew now that he hadn't just been a part of my dream, my logical brain balked at the idea that we could have actually met on a different plane of reality.

"I remember telling you that. You were wearing a gray shirt that I really liked."

His arm curled gently around my head and pushed my face up to his as he kissed me again, lingering this time, and I could feel his body reacting, as mine did also when he pulled me closer.

I felt the heat start to bloom between my legs again and I shifted to lay one of them over his thighs.

"Open it," he whispered into me, not giving me a chance to respond before his tongue passed my lips and stroked against mine, drawing a tiny gasp from me as I pressed closer, needing more of him.

He released me and I gathered my wits for a second before lifting the paperboard lid.

I gasped and stared at the necklace for several moments.

It was a delicate carved winged-scarab hanging from a string of turquoise glass beads.

"Wh-what...I don't understand," I whispered, running my fingers over the pendant.

"I told you that you'd think I was a complete idiot," he smiled, "I found it the day after that dream. My head was so full of thoughts of you, Elizabeth. It just seemed like...I don't know. Like fate or something when I saw it in the window. I have no clue what I was gonna do with it. Well...that's not actually true...I--..."

"You what," I asked, letting the beads run through my fingers as I removed it from the box.

"I was, uhm...I was going to try and bring it to you. I know that's absurd, and I woke up with it still in that stupid drawer. But it felt like I had a little piece of you. A piece of something you liked that was real and that I could touch..."

My tears dropped onto his skin and I shook with silent sobs, wondering how my life had taken such a dramatic turn.

"It's wonderful. Oh, James, its so beautiful," I sniffed, sitting up so I could slip it over my head.

I pulled my hair over the beads and turned towards him, kneeling, the pendant falling between my breasts and contrasting with my pale skin.

He set the box back on his nightstand before looking at me with a gaze so full of emotion, it took my breath away. He pressed one hand to his heart, like he could still its beating if he tried to.

"You're perfect," he whispered, tracing the insect's elongated wings with one trembling hand, "like a goddess..."

I found myself in the next moment shifting to lean down and kiss him, lifting one leg to settle on the other side of his hips so I was straddling him.

He moaned deeply into my lips, seeking my tongue and running his hands up my thighs to my hips and I lowered myself and slid against his erection.

He felt deliciously good, and we continued to grind against each other until the tension became too much.

I gasped, pushing myself away from hips lips and sitting up, still astride him.

"Please, baby," he said, pressing his hips up to run his cock through my folds again. I lifted further and teased him against my entrance, ignoring the small part of me that was concerned about whether I could actually physically take him or not.

I whimpered and pressed further down, leaning back and digging my nails into this thighs as I stretched over his length.

His hands closed around my hips, almost bruising in their intensity as he groaned heavily at feeling my heat surrounding him.

"Oh, fuck, you feel good," he moaned as I took more of him.

I couldn't speak - the only thing I was capable of doing in that moment was gasping.

He bottomed out inside me and held me there, not moving as I pressed myself back up and looked down at him, panting, trying to get used to his thickness.

My walls clenched hard around him and he groaned, the muscles in his abdomen flexing.

He pressed on my hips, guiding me until I was moving up and down his cock, taking him all the way back inside me with each stroke until my legs started to quiver.

I was full to the brim and rapidly approaching my own release as he repeatedly hit that one particular spot inside me.

I gave him every bit of myself right then as he sat up and wrapped his arms around my waist, closing his mouth around my nipple and panting against my skin.

"Come for me, Elizabeth," he moaned, and his words were my undoing.

He managed to slide his hand between us and rub his thumb in slick circles around my clit.

I threw my head back as I tangled both hands into his hair and kept moving up and down him.

His roar of pleasure matched my own as he spilled inside me, the feeling of my inner walls strangling him and my fluids covering his thighs just too much.

I wrapped both arms around his neck as he pressed his cheek to my heaving, sweating breast.

"James," I gasped, trying to come down from the high but unable to, "oh, God, James."

I tilted his head until he looked at me, our eyes meeting with perfect understanding as we both panted against each other.

"I love you," I whispered, unafraid of the words for once in my adult life.

He paused for a moment, then crushed me to him in an impossibly tight embrace, until I shifted my legs and wrapped them around his waist with him still inside me.

"I love you too, my Elizabeth," he said softly into the skin of my shoulder, just where it met my neck, making me shudder.

He rocked me back and forth slowly in his lap, unable to stop the grin that curved his mouth.

We stayed that way silently, getting lost in time and the satisfaction of touching each other.

"Why do you always use my full name?" I asked, breaking the silence.

He pulled his head back, cocked it slightly to the side and looked at me.

"Most people assume I get called Liz, or Lizzy, or Beth...but you always call me Elizabeth. No one else does that."

"I don't know, I guess," he ran a hand back through his hair, lifting it slightly as he gently pulled through a tangle, "you just seem like an Elizabeth to me. Not a Beth, not a Lizzy...just...Elizabeth...My beautiful Elizabeth," he breathed into my lips.

"Your Elizabeth," I confirmed, pressing my lips to his, relishing the softness of them and how they seemed to fit just perfectly against mine.

"J-James, I think...I think you saved me," I said, as he shifted us until we were laying down again and he pulled me into his side.

His lips pressed to my hair and tears filled his eyes.

He drew in a deep shaky breath and reached around me to untie the cord bracelet from his wrist.

He took my hand, brushing my index finger over a fresh scar across his left wrist.

"You saved me too, my love...I think you saved me too."

I didn't know what to say, so I just burrowed my face into him, inhaling his scent and wrapping my arms around him as he did the same.

We fell asleep that way, not caring for anything but each other, and somehow knowing it would all work out now.


End file.
